Douglas Murray faces Sharks for first time since being traded

SAN JOSE — At 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, Douglas Murray patrolled the blue line for the Sharks for eight seasons and bruised opponents on a nightly basis.

Saturday night he will face his former teammates for the first time with the Montreal Canadiens and for the 33-year-old native of Sweden, there's some pride on the line as well as the two points. But, he insisted after Montreal's morning skate, there are no hard feelings.

"It's part of the business. I have no animosity or anything with it," said Murray, who was still dealing with a head injury when the Sharks beat Montreal 2-0 at the Bell Center on Oct. 26. "The trade wouldn't have happened if our team was playing better at the time. We had a bad stretch of games and I was part of it like everybody else on the team."

And Murray doesn't question the idea that the Sharks did get quicker after he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins at 2013 deadline, but suggested that came at a price.

"Anytime you trade me away and add somebody else, it's going to get faster. I'm not going to argue with that," he said. "But you're also getting softer."

Murray was the Sharks perennial leader among defensemen. Often, players who took a run at him were the ones who were on the ice after the collision. His former teammates haven't forgotten.

"At least I know now to not go and try to hit him," defenseman Jason Demers said. "Everyone will kind of have the warning to watch for the reverse check, for sure."

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Added Logan Couture, who referred to Murray by his San Jose nickname — Cranksfhaft, or Cranky — that has not followed him to Montreal.

"I've seen Crnaky play and hit a lot of people pretty hard," Couture said. "Hopefully I can skate away from him tonight.

Both Demers and Couture talked about how important a presence Murray was in the Sharks locker room. Montreal had the day off Friday, and Murray used the free time to stop by Sharks Ice and visit with players and coaches.

"Our players have played many years with him. They understand his strengths and weaknesses," Sharks Coach Todd McLellan said. "It was good to see him yesterday. He stopped by to say hi to everybody. Nice to see him healthy and playing pretty well for the Canadiens.

"Anytime a family member like that leaves your organization," he continued, "you want to see him do well. Obviously tonight we'd like to see him be on the back end of the score, but we'd still like to see him have success and we certainly wish him well."